


Flowers and Ink and Tea, oh my!

by Demon_Cookie101



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Asexual Eridan, Flower shop/tattoo parlour AU, Humanstuck, M/M, agender aradia, memory problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:57:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7550479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demon_Cookie101/pseuds/Demon_Cookie101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You rather like having an empty lot next to your store, there's less people and less of a chance of the display stands being knocked over, more space for you to park your car in front of your store if you need to, less reason for you to be civil on the streets. All those good things.<br/>And then Anna tells you that there's a tattoo parlour going in next to your store.<br/>Great.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let me just preface this that Feferi is not a character I am very good with...  
> And that I did a lot of research where it was needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to my rp friend who came up with most of this and concluded that Sollux is the /BIGGER/ dork. U nerd.

The store next to yours has been empty since you moved in. The middle-aged lady who owns the bakery across the street from you told you that it used to be a piercing place, where all the locals could get metal shoved through whatever bit of flesh they wanted for good prices. It had been a good place, clean and with several piercers who specialised in different types of piercing. She had said that the store closed down due to the owner moving cities and taking their work with them.

You only moved into what is now fondly dubbed “waterside flowers” a year or two ago, right when you first started selling flowers for a living. Your father still thinks it’s the worst sort of industry you could be in, but every single time he needs flowers, without fail, he comes to you. You’ve found that he doesn’t mind dishing out a coin here or there if you’re in dire need of a pick-up money-wise. He’s checked over everything you do, and you think he’s come to realise that you are actually making some good money out of it all, and you are one of the best in the town, hell even the city if you want to be totally smug.

You just know where to plant the pennies, so to speak.

You normally head over to the bakery before you open up to get yourself a pastry and have a bit of a gossip with Anna behind the counter. You’re leaning against the counter when you see two people get out of a moving truck and head into the empty store next to yours. You can’t help but scrunch up your face at the sight of them. It looks like a woman and a man, but you can’t really see any defining features from your spot.  
“Who’s that?” You ask when Anna brings out your pastry and a cup of tea. You’re not one to keep in the loop of things like who comes and goes town, that’s why you go to Anna. She provides you with any and all gossip that you could ever want. It’s great.  
“Oh, they’re the new tattoo artists. Two of them, I didn’t catch their names. I saw them checking out the building last Friday, and then yesterday they were here again with an agent or something. They must have gone through with the payment.”

You sigh, more so for the fact that you are going to have to pretend to be nice and social if you ever bump into them on the street. You’re rather hoping that they are stereotypical tattoo artists, and then snort into your tea. You’re pretty sure that none of the shop owners on the main street, you included, are stereotypical to your job.

You come from a long line of upper class families, (your father is in the wine business, your brother’s set to be following him) and you’re a florist. Anna’s a war veteran who’s missing her right leg from the knee down, and you know for a fact that the guy who runs the electrical repairs store three shops down has only got experience because he did tech and lighting for theatre students and is currently studying a degree in electronics.

You don’t doubt that those two from the tattoo parlour are going to be anything but a stereotype.

You thank Anna for the pastry and the tea as you head out and cross the road. The cup is balanced precariously on the paper bag with your pastry as you fish your keys of your pocket and unlock your door. You step in as someone steps out of the new tattoo store, but you don’t give it much thought as you shut the door again and go to place your breakfast on the counter so you can start setting up for the morning. You have a shipment of orange tulips coming in, and three orders to be picked up between one and three in the afternoon. One anniversary, one funeral and a birthday. You can’t start the birthday one until the tulips come in and you can’t do the funeral one until the lady who ordered the flowers gets back to you about the allergies from the people viewing the open casket. You’ve mentioned that she should have taken this into account and that you do have flowers that are free of pollen and smells if that’s the case, she just needs to choose different ones. She’s adamant about the flowers she wants though, so you just sigh and say that it will cost her a little bit extra to have left it this late.

The guy from next door is standing outside signing the clipboard held out to him when you bring the display stands out. The wire racks aren’t very heavy, and you have both of them set up in front of the glass windows before loading them with pots of violets, crocus and marigolds. You decide against putting the hanging pots up today, mostly because your shoulder is still sore from when a few of the clay slates that live on the shelves in the back room fell off onto you. The bruise is rather impressive, and you’re just glad that you didn’t break your collarbone or something.

You don’t realise that they guy is still standing there, watching you arrange the displays, until he speaks. You thought he had gone back inside already. It’s no more than a simply ‘Hi’, but it almost startles you into dropping a plastic pot with pretty white violets.  
You wipe your hands on your pants to get rid of any potting mix and hold out your hand. “Hi. Eridan Ampora.”  
“Sollux Captor.” His fingers are thin, but his grip is sure of himself. He looks like the kind of person who would have made fun of you in high school. “My co-worker’ll be out in a bit to say hello. They’re just taking care of the final bits of inventory.” You nod, glancing at the door to his shop. “Have you met the rest of the people on the street?” It’s not that big of a town, or that small either, but nearly everyone owning a shop down the main street at least knows the first name of all the other shop owns.

Sollux shakes his head. “No, just Anna from the bakery. She spoke with Aradia, my co-worker, when they went over to get us lunch when we were here last week. They said that Anna recommended speaking with you first, since you’re the store next to ours, and that you could probably be a bit techy.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes, shifting your glare over to Anna’s front window. You can just make out her waving fingers from across the street. “I’m not goin’ to be techy just because you’re settin’ up your business right next to mine. I have no idea why she would say that.” You huff, feeling a little affronted, even though you know Anna’s just poking fun. You did the same with the printing company that’s next door to her bakery by telling them that if they get in her way she’ll hit them with her prosthetic leg.

A small smirk flickers across Sollux’s face when you look back at him, and it changes his whole face. Makes it look more mischievous, more… you’re not even sure what word to supplement here, and that’s a first for you. Or a second, seeing as the only other time that happened you ended up falling hard for the person that caused you to lose control of your English skills. Normally, speaking to people don’t mess up your words, but apparently sometimes your brain just sees someone and goes “whelp, English is stupid and I’m going to make you make a fool of yourself ha ha”.

You blink back into focus, hoping that you haven’t had some sort of stupid look on your face. His smirk is still there, and you realise that it’s getting rather awkward now. “Well,” you say, taking a half step towards the now open door of your shop. “If any of the poor gothy teens of this town that wonder into your place for the chance to have horrible, possibly morbid or obscure art permanently printed on their bodies and need a pick-me-up flower, send them over.” That gets you a snicker and he nods, waving as he heads back into the parlour.

You flop onto the chair behind the counter, resting your head on your hands. You’re not really one to start liking people solely based on their looks. Usually you go for personalities, things like that, but Sollux’s smirk and the minute changes his facial muscles took on when he smirked at you just…

He just…

Ugh.

You can’t even English around him, even after a first meeting. Briefly, you wonder whether it’s just because you’re lonely in general. You really only have Anna and Feferi for company, but Anna doesn’t like walking around because her prosthetic is hurting and she’s saving up for a new one, and Feferi is currently out of town on a three-week holiday, and even when she is in, you rarely see her face to face.

You probably need to get out more, socialise more, because while people do drop into your store on occasion to buy a plant or single flower or pick up an order, it’s not really interactive company. Half the time they barely spare a “good morning” or “good afternoon”.

You glance out of the side window and at the door to the tattoo parlour. Sollux, and the person who must be Aradia (you wonder why he kept using “they”, and then almost slap yourself in the face when you realise that they probably don’t go by their birth gender, idiot) are carrying some of the last boxes from the truck into the store.

He smiles at them, a sort of half thing that softens his eyes, and your stomach gives a funny little twist and you just about shove your face in the hyacinths sitting primly in their pot by the till. You really, really hate it when something (or someone) decides to fuck with you when you finally thought you’d figured yourself out.

You’re a master at keeping a crush squashed, though, so you simply sit up, head into the back room to make sure that your face isn’t red and stupid, and pretend that you don’t feel a single thing for anybody in the entire world.

\----

Your plan doesn’t work.

You meet Aradia two days after your talk with Sollux, when you’re setting up the new batch of daffodils that had just come in. They’re not really in season at the moment, the climates getting a bit too cold now for flowers in general (You’re probably going to close up shop for a week and only import stock for the commissions and urgent orders that might come in. It’s what you do every year around winter). She- fuck, _they_ have their hair curled up into a bun atop their head, and their nails were painted a pretty dark red. You had roses in exactly the same colour in the back room. You had potting mix all over your fingers that just refused to come off no matter how much you wiped your hands on your pants, but they didn’t seem to mind.

You asked about the whole agender thing, and they explained it in rather concise detail that didn’t make you feel idiotic and stupid. You said that you’re sorry if you ever misgender them by accident, but you grew up having really bad speech patterns and after an accident when you were eight (really, what idiot builds a kid’s treehouse in a giantass oak and not expect a kid to fall out?) you’ve had memory problems with words and remembering certain words for things. The specialists you’ve seen all say that you’ll probably grow out of it one day, but here you are, thirteen years later and still occasionally forgetting words. At least it’s been getting better slowly. Sometimes you can go a whole day or two with remembering every word that you need to.

They simply smiled slightly and said that as long as you don’t repeatedly do it on purpose, then perhaps one or two slip of the tongues can be forgiven. They said that they understand that their appearance can sometimes make people forget their gender.

When they eventually left, you went back into your store and to the backroom to write down on the notepad that’s hung up on the wall ‘Aradia – agender – remember’. It’s full of lists of flowers and types of potting mix and pots and things that you’ve written with little code words to try and help you remember when you just can’t reach the word you’re looking for.

You’re in the back room now, two days after Aradia dropped by, getting the word for amaryllis (white red vibrant loud) for an order for some lady’s birthday gathering. You never really understand why people say they want these in a bouquet, because they’re really hard to match with other flowers because they’re so vibrant on they’re own.

Sollux is standing in front of the counter, looking to the crocus that are stacked neatly in pots with prices on them. You dimly remember the first time someone expressed their surprise at you selling flowers alongside making bouquets and arrangements and wreaths. You nearly drop the spool of black ribbon you’re holding, wondering what the hell he’s doing in your shop. He’s got his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and you can’t help but admire the wiry state of his arms. You’re a beanpole yourself, but you’re a swimming beanpole. (Fef used to tease you, saying you were a ‘needlefish’, an ‘eel’ and then she went on and said a straightened seahorse. You told her that unless she was planning on getting you an actual seahorse for your birthday she can shut up.)

“Eridan?”

You jerk back a little, blinking rapidly. “Huh, what? Sorry.” Why the hell are you thinking about Feferi when there’s a literal hot mess standing in your store. Okay, he’s more of a dorky mess, but either way, what the hell.  
“I’m just asking about the bakery across the street.”  
“Anna? Has she done somethin’ obnoxious again?”  
“Oh, no. I was just wondering if her coffee’s any good, or whether I should go down the road to the place on the corner?”  
“Oh, don’t bother with them. They never do their coffees, or their teas, right and it’s always gross. Anna does really good coffee, or at least that’s what she tells me. I don’t drink it, really.” You set the spool down on the counter top, leaning against it with your palms. There’s leaves and cut stems all over the bench that connects to the counter, and you wish the place was a little cleaner.  
He smiles slightly at you, turning back to look at the crocus. “Thanks. We haven’t gotten out much yet, and AA was pretty much begging me to go get them some coffee so they can handle the hordes of goth kids that are bound to come in and start hitting on them. It’s pretty funny to watch from my end, but for them… well, they need a lot of coffee for it.”

You wonder if they’re together, and then immediately hate yourself for thinking that. It will only make you miserable.

“You can pick a flower for her- shit them. Them. Sorry.” You scrub a hand over your face in annoyance. It’s not a good day for you today. You’ve forgotten four flowers in the space of an hour. You take a breath and continue. “For them if you want. So long as you get me a tea as well. Equal payment, and it might ward off the grumpy, pinin’ people who come in.”  
He’s looking at you funny, and you hope it’s not because you just misgendered his co-worker, or date mate, or whatever else they are to him.

When he doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, you turn away from the counter and back to the work station. You drop the spool next to some small, soft purple viscarias. The amaryllis are laid out on the back wall, the label underneath stating their name and the code word in your spidery handwriting. You pick out three, since the order doesn’t need many, and three is honestly more than enough, and bring them over to the work table. Sollux is peering down at the label under the crocus, and you just hope he can’t read your handwriting.

“… Do you have memory problems?” Is what comes out of his mouth, quiet and careful and you accidentally cut the amaryllis stem too close to the base of the flower. Now it’s too short to use in the set, great. You thought he’d left.  
“Eridan?”  
“Yeah. It’s not… It’s not like dementia or Alzheimer’s or somethin’ like that. It’s just… yeah, I do. Just with words though. Is it that obvious?” You go and grab another amaryllis, sighing softly. The quiet, utterly nasty, part of your mind informs you that even if you had a chance with him, it was all gone now. You’re asexual and you’ve got a memory problem that affects word recollection, what makes you think he’ll want to deal with you? You tell your mind to fuck off and turn back to the flowers.  
“I said it’s not obvious.” You look up again in surprise, thankfully not holding scissors this time. Sollux is standing in front of your work table, holding the rejected amaryllis.  
“What?”  
“It’s not obvious. Your memory thing. This girl, woman, dropped by yesterday to have a look at the place. She spoke a lot, like a lot a lot, and she told us a heap of things about the street and the people here. I didn’t really catch her name, but she said she was a close friend of yours and that sometimes you forget words and that you’re always really apologetic about it and that she was just warning us not to take things to heart if you mess up your words. And also that you have a tattoo that you were going to finish but apparently never have. Since when do florists have tattoos?”

You’re only a little bit gobsmacked. Just a little bit.

But not enough that when you do speak, you sound offended. “That little shit. I’m gonna kill her. She was supposed to be out for another week, but no, she’s back, and she doesn’t even bother droppin’ around to say hi? What the hell Fef.” You scowl down at the flowers and go find a sticky note and a pen to write yourself a note to ring her later.  
“What?”  
“Feferi. She’s a really close friend of mine. She’s been out on a holiday, but she probably came back early. She probably dropped all that on you two because you’re in the store right next to mine and she thinks I need a better social life and probably hopes that you’ll take the initiative and want to talk to me instead of me doin’ anythin’, because I apparently never do anythin’.” You maybe said a bit more than you want to, your cheeks flushing as you duck your head.

You probably just scared him off.

Sollux surprises you _again_ with a snicker, and he reaches across the bench to pat your shoulder. “You’ll fit right in with AA and I. We’re weird too. What sort of tea do you want?”  
You look up at him, and he holds up the rejected amaryllis with a small smirk as if asking if he could take it. You cut a loop of the black ribbon and tie it into a bow over the stem. “Earl grey.”

You wait until he’s out the front door before reaching for your phone.

CA: i hate you  
CC: 38O


	2. Chapter 2

Sollux pesters you constantly about your tattoo. And yeah, okay, it is a pretty cool tattoo, you got it with your brother (because he’s a weenie and afraid of needles and you promised that you’ll get one too to show him that it wasn’t that bad) and it’s a watercolour seahorse that decorates your left hip bone and you were going to get a constellation over your ribs (though you definitely weren’t going to tell Feferi, because she’ll laugh at you and tease you about being a hipster, but you like stars so she can shove it). He keeps on asking to see it, and where you got it done, and when you got it done and whether you’re getting another one done.

It’s only when you drop by to make an appointment to get the Eridanus constellation (ha, yeah. Shut up) done on your ribs do you find out that neither Aradia or Sollux have any tattoos.

“You’re tattoo artists and you have no tattoos?” You’re holding out the drawing of what you want done, both brows raised as you look between them both. Fef is a pretty good artist, and despite her teasing you constantly about what you want done, she managed to get exactly what you had in mind down on paper. It’s the constellation done in rolling lines of waves with the star points done as little shells. You love it, and it fits with your (stupid) nautical theme. (You should have just opened a fish store, it would have suited better).  
“You’re a florist and you have tattoos?”  
“Tattoo. One. Soon to be two if either of you can do this.” Aradia takes the paper from you, their eyes skimming it and nodding. “You want it in blacks?”  
“Can you do it in black and blues? Like, black, but with ocean-blue accents? And the shells in like a purple or a violet or somethin’?”  
“Mostly likely.”  
“Sweet.”  
“Can we get back to the point that you’re a florist with _tattoos_.”  
“Sol, you’ve known that for ages. Literally ages now. I think it’s more surprisin’ that you don’t have any.”  
He just shrugs, running his fingers through his fringe to keep it out of his face. “I don’t really like havin’ needles to my skin, and I don’t really trust anyone to do what I want perfectly, not even AA.” Ara rolls their eyes at him and swats him on the shoulder with the drawing.

You’ve become weirdly familiar with them. You’ve taken to bringing them a morning drink, since they open at the same time as you. Anna teases you about pining after Sollux, but after seeing how actually distressed you were after she mentioned saying something to Sollux, she’s taken pity on you and haven’t said a thing. Which is great, perfect. You don’t want Sollux to ever known about your feelings, you don’t want to lose this sort of friendship thing you have going on here.

You relay over the gossip from Anna to Ara, and Sol normally comes in around then and butts in with whatever it is he wants to say.

Lately he’s been asking you about flowers.  
Your favourite, your least favourite, the one everyone asks for, the one people ask for the least, whether flowers actually do have meanings to them or whether that’s just some bullshit made up by someone on the spot. You usually answer him as best as you can, but you don’t understand where all these questions come from, because as far as you’re aware Sollux has absolutely no interest in flowers.

Each time he comes in with these question, Ara has this stupid little knowing smile on their face, and you wonder whether you’re being set up for a joke.

\----

The questions don’t stop. He drops by during the day on the way out to get lunch from Anna’s, leaning against the counter and asking about the different types of flowers.

Each time he leaves you dive for your phone and flip out at Feferi. You’re pretty sure she’s getting annoyed with you know.

This time is no different. Sollux came in, asked why your favourite flower was your favourite and whether you could point it out to him and then left after asking if he could take one and bring you back an earl grey.

CC: You need to stop flippin out at me everytime this buoy does somefin –Eridan!  
CC: S)(orely you’re used to )(im asking you questions by now!!  
CA: fef  
CA: howw can i put this into small wwords  
CA: him and ara are plannin somethin  
CA: i can tell  
CC: Oh reely?  
CA: reely  
CC: And )(ow can you “tell”  
CA: ara keeps havvin this little smirk on their face everytime sol asks me a question in the mornin an im pretty sure that theyre plannin somethin an i really hope that i havvent offended one a them by accident an noww theyre doin this to get back at me  
CC: sig)(  
CA: dont you sigh at me Peixes  
CC: SIG)(  
CA: fef  
CA: this is serious cmon  
CC: You reely need to get a )(andle on your feelings and insecurities –Eridan  
CA: yeah fuckin tell me about it  
CC: Do you want me to glub wit)( t)(em?  
CA: no  
CA: no they might knoww im onto them  
CC: T)(en stop glubbing with M—E and get back to work!  
CA: ugghhhh  
CC: You’re such a pain in the aft –Eridan  
CA: you lovve me  
CC: Na)(  
CC: But S)(oallux probubbly does  
CA: FEF!  
CC: )(—E)(—E GOTTA GO BUOY!  
CA: FEF

You can’t help but groan and hit yourself in the face with your hand, dropping your phone onto the cleaning cloths stacked under the counter so that you can rub your hands hard over your face. Your friend, your best friend, is an utter _cow_. You regret telling her anything, ever.

The rest of the week passes in similar fashion, except without as much flailing to Fef. You’re a little embarrassed at how much flailing you’ve actually done to her, and made sure to have a box of chocolates sent over as an apology. Everyone seems to realise that winter is pretty much around the corner and that they should get their orders in _right now_ or start placing them now even if they’re not needed until a few months from now or some rubbish like that. You’ve never understood the way people work, and you’re definitely not about to start now.

But it does mean that you’re pretty much swamped under orders. You spend all opening hours making up the orders that are to be collected that afternoon and then even after closing time you spend an hour or two sorting out the orders that came in that day in order of urgency and whether you need to get more stock for them.

You always get overwhelmed at this time of year, but you always pull through eventually. After a few weeks it calms down again, but you’re in the middle of those few weeks and you’re already running on less sleep and you had four days in a row where you kept forgetting words _and_ you have an appointment with your specialist on Friday for a check-up and mental analysis (or whatever it’s called), _and_ you’ve got three orders due in a few hours by three different people that are all pretty much asking for the same flowers and you were supposed to have a delivery of hyacinths and kangaroo paw come in two hours ago and it’s still not here and you need them _right now and-_

And there’s someone in your store?

You didn’t hear the door open at all, you’ve been leant over the worktable since opening up (you didn’t even drop by for tea) and thankfully there’s not been many walk in’s but now there’s someone here and it takes a bit of focusing before you realise it’s Sollux. You’ve haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately, but that’s normal. You know it’s just the stress.

“… hi?” he looks a little concerned and you glance down at yourself. You’ve got potting mix staining your shirt and there’s a smudge of dirt on your cheek, your hair is messy and your glasses are smudged. You look like an idiot.

You give an embarrassed sort of laugh and shrug your shoulders, putting down the scissors and the white rose you’ve been working with and dust your hands off on your pants. “I have a lot of orders at the moment.”  
“Yeah, I can tell. We asked Anna whether we did something for you to be avoiding us both, because you were supposed to come in yesterday for your tattoo, remember?” Your eyes widen a little and you hit yourself on the forehead. “Fuck, sorry. Sorry, I didn’t… The orders, I always have a lot of order’s this time’a year an’-” You shut up when he holds up a hand, wincing at the sound of your wobbly accent.  
“Anna told us that. Said that everyone sends in orders at this time of year and that you normally get overwhelmed. She said you’d be fine in a week or so.”  
“Yeah, I should. Would I be able to reschedule my appointment for then?” He nods, waving you off and placing down a take away cup on the counter.  
“Definitely. But here, you look like you need this.” He pushes the cup your way, and you drop into the seat behind the cash register with a groan and grab for the cup. It’s nice and hot in your hands, and you breathe in the smell of earl grey. You could probably live solely on this tea. And maybe fruit as well. Tea and fruit, that’s your lifeblood right there, uh huh.

Sollux leans on the counter and looks at the bouquets that you have set out already, the half-finished ones that just need a few more things that _haven’t yet bloody turned up_.

“How many orders is that, four? Five?”  
“Three.”  
“Three? Jeez ED, it looks enough to fill several buckets.” You’re busy smiling internally over the fact that he gave you a nickname too and drinking tea to answer right now.  
“Yeah. And they’re not even finished yet. I’m waitin’ for a shipment to come in, and all three of those people pushed the dates to earlier because apparently they got it wrong or somethin’ like that. I’m half convinced all three of those people are related or somethin’ and are gettin’ a kick out of overworkin’ and freakin’ me out.” You grouse into the tea, taking your glasses off for now and setting them beside you.

Sollux leans over the clock to catch sight of the clock that’s hanging in the backroom. “It’s… only eleven o’clock ED.”  
“… what? No it’s not. It’s like, two. And I should have had the deliveries two hours ago, and they’re comin’ in a three to pick it all up.”  
“Eridan, it’s eleven. Look.” He pulls out his phone and shows you the time on there, and now you’re really confused.

His expression is soft, almost caring, and you look up at him in confusion. “What time did you get here, ED?”  
“Um… Early. Earlier than normal. I wanted to get a head start on the orders.”  
“Do you think that that’s made you think it’s later than it is?” He doesn’t speak to you in a condescending tone, or as if you’re stupid.  
You look down at the cup in your hands and nod slowly.  
“Maybe you should take a little break, yeah? How about you make somethin’ for yourself? Or for me? Just a little somethin’, and I’ll put a discount on your tattoo fee.”  
“Sol, I can’t do that. You’re still establishin’ here, I can’t take away money that you might need.”  
“Eridan. It’ll be fine. We’ve received a lot of feedback and we offer a small fee if someone wants a consultant on their tattoo or even their piercing’s. AA did learn some piercing shit under this one lady at our last town, and while they won’t pierce any part of anyone, they do know what looks wrong and what looks alright. We’re doing fine. Now, c’mon. Tell me your favourite flowers and make me something out of them. You’re not in a rush, because those deliveries haven’t had a chance to arrive yet because then they’d be early.”

You just nod slowly, setting the cup down and going to the back wall and scouring the shelves for your favourites. Your favourite flowers don’t really go together, per say, but you could probably make it work. “What do you want me to do with them? Bouquet, wreath, flower crown…”  
“You do flower crowns?”  
“No, not really, but-”  
“I want a flower crown.” You roll your eyes at him and reach to grab some pretty, tiny, bright blue forget me nots (it was difficult to find someone who supplied these with long enough stems) gorgeous violets, little yellow daisies and stand contemplating over the small collection of little red rose buds. They had been ordered in for an order a last week, and there weren’t many left. You gathered them up as well and brought them back over to the counter. “These are all my favourites. I’m not too fond of roses, really, but these need to be used, and you might as well choose the ones I should put together, seein’ as it’s goin’ to be your crown and all.”

Sollux smiles at you (be still, stupid heart) and turns his attention to the flowers you’ve dropped onto the table. He picks out the violets and the daisies, and frowns over the forget me nots and the rose buds. “AA might like the rose buds, but the forget me nots go with the violets. Can you make two?” You hesitate, but nod, because he’s doing wonders for your earlier frantic pace, and you don’t want him to leave yet. You turn to look at the work bench, but upon seeing the mess still there from the other orders just makes you sit back down at the counter and turned to face Sollux. He’s looking at you, not at the flowers or even around the shop, and you wonder whether the dirt you know is on your face is a lot more than you thought it was.

You turn your attention back to making the two flower crowns you hav- no, want to make now. You start with the rosebud one. You don’t know what size Ara’s head is, but you’re just guessing at the moment, and if it’s too big, then you’ll just take it back and fix it. It takes little to no time at all, seeing as it’s just the one type of flower, so soon enough you’re turning it around in your hands and inspecting it all over before handing it over to Sollux. “Who do you want me to do the other one for?”  
He stands and picks up the crown. “They’ve got about your head size, so just use your own head as a model I guess. I’m just going to give this to AA, and tell them that you’d like to reschedule for next week.” He’s out the door before you can say anything, so you just sigh, glance back at the one’s you _should_ be working on, before turning your attention to making the other crown. He comes back in when you’re nearly finished, but doesn’t say anything while you finish up the last crown. You’re feeling tired already, and decide that you’re not going to come in early for the rest of the week. It’s only going to make you freak out again, and the fact that Sollux had to see that in the first place just makes you feel miserable.

Maybe you should just pretend that he’s already rejected you or something, because you’re probably bound to start being more obvious with your feelings the longer you spend with him.

You hand over the other crown once you’re done, reaching for your cup and finishing off the last of your tea. Sollux is admiring the crown when you look up again, turning it over carefully in his hands.

You smile slightly and move to get up off of your chair and head back to the workbench. A gentle weight settles on your hair and you blink in confusion.

Sollux’s hands grab the collar of your shirt and your question dies in your throat as he pulls you over the counter and kisses you.

You think you forget everything for a brief moment, because when you blink again, he’s pulled back and is staring at you with a slightly sheepish expression.  
“…H-uh?” You sound a little out of breath, but you definitely know that the kiss wasn’t anything more than a soft peck. You sit back down on the chair with a thunk, staring at him with wide eyes. He reaches out and fixes what must be the flower crown on your hair, smiling a little at you.  
“You’ve been teasing me. You’re an absolute pain in my ass, ED. But, with that crown you’re a royal pain in my ass.”

Your mouth is working uselessly, and you wonder whether you’re in some sort of crazy daydream. His smile is turning worried, and when he looks like he’s about to speak you forget that you’re not going to let yourself have him and reach over to grab him by the cheeks and pull him into another kiss. He tastes like mint tea and something sweet, like those sorts of sweets your father used to keep in his study. Cloyingly honey, and the taste really shouldn’t work but it does and it’s only because you need to do stupid things like _breathing_ do you pull back.

His cheeks are as red as your hair, as red as the rosebuds that you just made a flower crown out with.

“ _I’ve_ been teasin’ _you_? It’s the other way ‘round! Do you have any idea how hard I’ve been restrainin’ myself to keep from goin’ for you? I’ve just figured myself out and you come along and fuck it all up for me!” Your hands are still cupping his cheeks and you slowly let them drop. He laughs at you, his eyes crinkling a little at the corners. He’s adorable.

“Feferi said that you’ve been pining for me.”  
Your cheeks flush, if possible, even redder and you splutter. “I’m goin’ to kill her!”  
“Why? She brought us together. You should have heard her and AA going on and on. AA told me to stop being so patient and go for you myself. You’ve been driving me nuts these past few weeks. I swear I never thought I’d fall for a florist. Hell, my last boyfriend had more piercings than you have flowers in this store.”  
“That’s an exaggeration-”  
“Shut up ED, it’s a valid point. I like you. A lot, more than I thought I would. I’ve been dropping hints like they’re lures these past few weeks, but you just seemed to not notice. You always smiled a little, almost awkwardly, but then you’d just move on.”  
You’re quiet for a few seconds, chewing at your lip. You had noticed them, but you thought he was just messing with you. “I didn’t know they were aimed at me. I’m not… I haven’t…” You take a deep breath, focus on your words, and speak. “I haven’t dated a lot. Only once, and that was with Fef when we were in high school, I haven’t… I don’t know when people aren’t dealin’ with me for the sake of it, or when they’re hidin’ that I’m irritatin’ them or what. I don’t… I didn’t know. I thought that I was bein’ subtle, though. I didn’t want you to find out, because we were just getting good at being friends, and I didn’t want to lose that.” You say all in a rush, eyeing him carefully. He just leans over the counter and tips your chin up for another soft kiss.

You might as well get all your cards out on the one table though, because if he’s serious about wanting to date you, then what if he wants to end up getting intimate? You can’t, you just can’t.

You press a hand to his shoulder, pushing him away a little until you can speak. “I’m ace. Asexual. I don’t-”  
“Eridan. Dude. I literally do not care. I just want to wrap you up in blankets and kiss you and cuddle with you. I don’t care that you’re ace, or that you forget words sometimes. Who even needs words. Or English. We should learn sign languages or something and piss off AA and FF with our secret conversations.”  
You press your forehead to his shoulder and just smile. “Okay. I know this really nice place on the… the sand… um…. Sandy place?”  
“Beach?”  
“Yeah, yeah the beach, thank you. I know a place by the beach, a restaurant, we can go on a date there? If you want?” You sit back in your chair, feeling a little embarrassed at how you’re messing up your words in your stupidly flustered state.  
“I’m allergic to seafood.” Sollux only looks apologetic, and you just reach out to pat at his hands. “Oh, they do other meals. Stuff with beef and there’s this really good chicken one with this really nice sauce and the best… the… potato, ah, chips! They did really good chips.”

Sollux smiles at you, grasping your fingers in his and squeezing gently. “I’d like that. I can’t wait.”

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\-- caligulasAquarium [CA] added apocalypseArisen [AA] to the chat! —

CA: i hate you both  
CC: 38D  
AA: 0n0  



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